Amaretto Cranberry Chocolate Chunk Cupcakes

A cool thing that happened last week… one of the toughest guys I work out with turned 64. He whoops my ass daily and I love our WODs. I decided to make him cupcakes but since we’re all CFers, of course I had to make them as paleo as possible.

Of course, the end result of the Paleo cupcake was “ruined” when I topped it with a homemade Nutella frosting and sprinkles.

But hey, a birthday cupcake isn’t the same without sprinkles. I figured people could scrape it off if they didn’t want it. Huge surprise, no one did such a travesty.

I really don’t know how I came up with these other than I wanted something different for such a cool guy, so I asked him what he liked and what he was allergic to and apparently, as long as I didn’t make penicillin cupcakes I was good to go. His wife has recently lost a million pounds on Paleo and looks amazing so I like creating stuff that he can try and go home and tell her so she can still enjoy the occasional treat too!

NOTE: When it comes to choosing flours for diabetic foods, making the right choice is very important to blood sugar control. Whole grains can be problematic for people with diabetes. Your best bet are almond flour or almond meal, coconut flour, ground flaxseed meal, sesame flour, and other nut flours in the majority of our breads and bakes.

Recipe: Paleo Amaretto Cranberry Chocolate Chunk Cupcakes

Ingredients

3 1/4 c. almond flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

3 eggs, beaten

3/4 c. honey

3/4 c. coconut oil, melted but not hot

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 tsp. almond extract

1 c. dried cranberries

1/2 c. roughly chopped 70% dark chocolate, small (or mini chips)

Instructions

In one bowl, combine the almond flour, baking soda, and baking powder.

In a large mixing bowl, add the eggs, honey, vanilla and almond extract.

Slowly drizzle in the coconut oil as you’re beating the mixture. This prevents the coconut oil from cooking the eggs.

Add in dry ingredients, cranberries, and chopped chocolate.

Bake at 325 for 15-20 minutes, depending on oven and size. Just keep an eye on them till their brown on edges and pass the toothpick test.

Ha! I didn’t measure anything but I can tell you how I made it and you can try. It was around 1 c. of nutella, 1/2 stick melted butter mixed together and then I added powdered sugar alternating with heavy cream beating at high speed until it came out frosting-ish. So, um, yeah. Not low calorie or low sugar BY ANY MEANS. lol.